Sakana Colony
The Sakana Colony, or Sakana, is one of the four playable races in Night of Oblivion. Storyline: The Sakana is a hybrid army of Naga and Mur units, which were previously Elves and fishes in the sea before the corruption of the Eye of Sargeras. After the defeat of Illidan on Northrend, the Naga lay dormant in wait for Illidan to return, whilst the fragments of the Eye of Sargeras had corrupted the waters where the fish lived, converting them to Watery Minions. All of them serve under Illidan before he was vaporised by the Oblivion Cannon. Gameplay: Town Hall: Temple of the Tides, Tsunami Temple, Neptune Temple Core Structure: Aqua Core Basic Worker: Mur'gul Slave Farm: Coral Bed Detectors: Tidal Guardian Production Facilities: 2 Structures # Mur'loc Hut (Tier 1): Produces Mur units. # Spawning Grounds (Tier 2): Produces non-Mur (Naga) units. Tier 3 Units: * Ancient Hydra: Ultimate unit with Devour and high HP regeneration. * Cerulean Wyvern: Powerful anti-air unit with Frost Blast. * Mur'loc Mutant: Melee unit with Bash and Cleave. * Mur'loc Plumage: Anti-air unit with exceptionally high movement speed. Race Asymmetry: # A Sakana mechanic is the Blight terrain feature, which enables the construction of buildings (other than Temple of the Tides), as well as provide units with high HP regeneration. # Sakana units generally have low hit points, high HP regeneration (on Blight), and fast attack speeds. In terms of composition. Mur units are generally melee and produced in mass, while Naga units are more technical and often have long attack range. # Since the Sakana only has 2 production facilities, tech switches are a more prominent strategy for this race. # Sakana units have a focus on building destruction, regeneration and attrition. Race Asymmetry Analysis & Strategy: # Spreading Blight with Coral Beds and the Aqua Core's Blight Expansion should be done as often as possible, since Blight can serve as an important retreat point for injured armies in the mid to late game. # Capitalise on the high attack speed of Mur units by keeping them in constant battle. While pulling Mur units back to the safety of Blight can be a good move, it is usually more important to save the generally bulkier and more expensive Naga units (and have the Mur units sacrifice themselves to buy time). In the same vein, capitalise on the high attack range of Naga units with safe positioning. # Between the two production facilities, it is important to have many Mur'loc Camps (if running a Mur heavy composition) as Mur units benefit from numbers. However, tech switches for Mur compositions are extremely limited compared to Naga compositions. # This, paired with fast moving Mur units and turtley long ranged Naga units to defend, enable a heavy split push style. Common Builds and Composition: * As the Activated Aqua Core produces workers with no opportunity cost, Activating the Aqua Core as soon as possible is important. One such opening involves researching it before training any Slaves. It is not a wasteful opening because of the Slaves' stock system. * Early rounds of Watery Minions are crucial in early defense. Finding a balance between pooling them up and scouting actively is key. * Since Mur compositions (and units) are attrition based, coupled with the fact that the Mur'gul Slaves are fielded via a stock system encourages a greedy economic opening into a sharp army transition. The strong defender's advantage from Blight as well as the free army units from the Aqua Core all align with this style of play. * A Mur compositions strength lies in it variance of attack types. Identifying the enemies' armour types and countering them will increase the chances of winning a skirmish. Mur compositions are generally weak to splash, but sniping a splash source by target firing is a way to get around the problem. * A few Snap Dragons are often sufficient to deter any air unit up to the mid game. Consider them if an air transition is possible. * A common Naga composition would be Snap Dragon and Myrmidon. (Roach Hydra xd) * Unlike other races, the Sakana welcomes a healthy mix of Mur and Naga units as they complement each other fairly well. Mur units can serve as meat shields for Naga compositions, while Naga units can deter an all in engagement from the enemy whilst the upgraded Mur units tear the opponent base apart. * Because Naga units are fairy slow and buiky, their most reliable defense is their HP regen. Be wary of burst damage sources. It is also imperative to identify if a fight is going to be lost. Pulling back the slow moving units a few seconds earlier can make all the difference. * Mur'gul Tiderunners, while weak in the early game, can become devastating building snipers in the late game if left unchecked. Other notable building snipers are the Mur'gul Shadowcaster and the Azure Serpent. * In the late game, the Sakana army should aim to play a poke war with the opposing army, since Naga units have high range and high HP regen. Setting up a contain may prove effective as well. The Couatl when fully upgraded, in particular, is an obnoxious unit in an attrition war. Naga Sirens in the late game also assist with contains, as Mystic Cloud is a strong deterrant to enemy hard engages. Misc. Statistics and Trivia: * Mur'loc Plumage (after upgrades) has the highest movement speed in the game at 450. * Mur'loc Plumage is the only Sakana unit to require two different techs to unlock. * Couatl (after upgrades) has the highest attack range in the game at 1200. * Ancient Hydra (on Blight) has the highest effective HP regen in the game at 24. * Mur +1 attacks feature an attack speed bonus as opposed to the standard damage increase. * With the exception of the Slave, one way to differentiate between Mur'guls and Mur'locs is that Mur'guls wield a shield but a Mur'locs wield a fan.